Michigan students suspended over `Harlem Shake' video

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — At least 30 students were suspended from Milford High School after shooting a video doing the “Harlem Shake.”

Alex Larson, an 18-year-old senior, said he and his several of his friends, all juniors and seniors, were suspended for three to five days.

“For me, I got suspension of school and I got suspended from basketball (on Friday),” Larson said. “The consequence we got was a little over the top.”

Director of Communications and Community Relations Kim Root said there was a second video, in addition to the “Harlem Shake.” The second video had racially insensitive portions.

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“There’s more than one video and the second video was taken down off of YouTube. It has some very disturbing content as far as the racial content,” Root said. “The Harlem Shake video, the students also violated many (parts) of the student conduct (rules)... It was indecent and vulgar and there was a live animal involved.”

Only service animals are allowed in the school.

School officials also told Larson that the video was indecent and the students broke the rules of student conduct.

“They skipped two steps (of punishment) ... we could have community service or detention and what we got was really over the top and inappropriate,” Larson said.

The video was shot after school in an empty classroom, Larson said. A teacher had given the students permission to use the room.

“We just told the teacher we were going to film in the classroom (and the teacher was fine with it),” Larson said.

Root said: “They lied to the teacher about the purpose of the video and the purpose of the classroom and there was a live animal involved.”

Larson said they were just having fun, and they never anticipated it would be such a big deal.

“We had no intentions to harm the school at all in any way, and we didn’t think we’d get in any trouble,” Larson said. “If we had to do it again, we wouldn’t do it anywhere near the school because we wouldn’t want to deal with anything we’ve had to deal with ... We just wanted to do it for fun and make a video like we always do.”

Root believes this needs to be looked at very seriously, and with serious consequences.

“With the increase of social media ... these things can lead to copycat videos and kids trying to push the envelope,” she said. “The students were aware of the code of conduct and they violated several areas of the code of conduct.”

Contact Megan Semeraz at 248-745-4628 or email Megan.Semeraz@oakpress.com or follow her on Twitter @MeganSemeraz.